Maa, what's more troublesome than timetravel?
by Kimichan13
Summary: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! Okay there. That's the only disclaimer you're gonna see. Right now, summary. Shikamaru goes back in time to stop the destruction of Konoha! But someone decides to hitch a ride on the journey on 'purpose' *coughnotcough*. How troublesome. NaruxHina, ShikaxTema, maybe NejixTen haven't really decided. Please R&R! Time travel!
1. Prologue

**Hello readers! Now, before you try and kill me and say that I should be working on my other stories... I am! I just have this weird desire to do timetravel and it WILL NOT GO AWAY! So I must get it out of my system! Hope you enjoy the prologue! Please review!**

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"Hokage-sama! You cannot be serious!" Shikamaru yelled at the man.

The Rokudaime's long blonde hair that hung around his shoulders swayed as he nodded his head.

His cerulean eyes held Shikamaru's dark eyes. "I am serious Shikamaru. My question is: will you accept this mission?" Shikamaru's eyes narrowed slightly before he nodded his head.

"Fine. But Naruto are you sure?" He whispered.

Naruto laughed humourlessly and gestured to the ruins of Konoha behind them. "Am I sure I want this to never happen? Of course." He said with a small smile.

"Hokage-sama the past is dangerous to tamper with. More bad can come from good." Shikamaru reminded him once more. The twenty-three year old had made up his mind though.

Naruto nodded. "I have faith in you though to change it for the better. Remember that once you leave this timeline; it will be destroyed. And you will most likely slowly begin to cease to exist as well. Warn people but make sure they trust you first. And whatever you do keep it a secret to everyone but the Hokage of your true identity. You can give him this. There will be two of you; paradox. Make sure you change your identity. Are you ready Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru took a deep breath and nodded holding the scroll given to him close to his chest. Naruto closed his eyes and Shikamaru felt the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto slammed his hand into the ground where the seal lay. The seal glowed white and it was connected to a round circle which Shikamaru stood in the middle of. The white light grew even brighter before Shikamaru could see no more.

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**Like it? review! If you review your name should appear on my W.O.F on my profile so check it out if you want to. **


	2. Ch1

**Sorry for the wait! Here's a present for the New Years! Please enjoy and no flames!**

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Pain.

That was what Shikamaru felt run through his body.

Unbearable pain.

When something usually hurts, you find the thing making the pain and stop it. But now when he felt a thousand kunai raking themselves up and down his body, all he saw was white. It was nothingness, to the extreme. And then he felt the pain lessen and the whiteness seemed to get brighter. Shikamaru shielded his eyes just as it became unbearable and then the light disappeared altogether.

O.o

Shikamaru groaned and rubbed his head. He looked where he was and sat stunned at the sight of a perfectly normal Konoha. It was if the war had never existed. Then Shikamaru realised the war _had _never existed; in this timeline yet at least.

He gazed down and saw he was standing on top of the Hokage monuments and noticed that there was only four heads on the cliff face instead of six. Right now, Shikamaru was really in need of a calendar. He was about to take off when he came to a stop. '_Make sure you change your identity', _He remember his blonde Hokage saying.

So then activating one of Naruto's seals he created an undetectable and solid henge. The Rokudaime had made it so that it used next to nothing in chakra to hold. It even held while he was sleeping. The downside was it only changed your appearances slightly. Shikamaru's dark hair was now a deep blonde like his Hokage. His dark eyes remained the same, as did his lean and slouched look.

He sighed, knowing he would most probably be easily recognised as he was at the moment and so took down his hair. It fell softly around his shoulders and Shikamaru smiled slightly. There we are, no one would ever recognise him now; well at least not for a while anyway.

He closed his eyes as he thought about his identity and how he was going to tell the Hokage. He finally settled on Nyugan Takato, a simple and none attention bringing name. He'd been an ANBU on a mission for five years in Kusa, a top secret mission. Shikamaru knew about Kusa and its layout. He'd been there for the Rokudaime plenty of times on negotiations to get their few shinobi to join the Konoha side.

Shikamaru sighed and leaned his head back. It was a pretty sucky(not a word, but he was too lazy to find one) plan, he decided.

As soon as he had spoken to the Sandaime, he would be known as Takato for the rest of his life. Shikamaru got to his feet after this thinking and walked over to Hokage building.

O.o

The Sandaime sat examining the scroll in silence that this man had given him.

_Dear Jiji,_

_Please understand the urgency in this. I have sent Shikamaru back to make sure the village I swore to protect would not fall. He will be under a fake identity as there would be another him running around and that would cause a tear in the universe. Well, that's what the Kurama(Kyuubi) says anyway. Please believe him. It may seem unreal at first but it is true. Also, help him with his cover story. He'll have a brilliant one or he isn't my advisor. Please help me save Konoha Jiji._

_Namikaze Naruto, _

_Rokudaime Hokage._

Hiruzen pursed his lips as he read through this. This could all be a complete lie. But what enemy would trust such an unstable plot line that had so many gaps in it? He nodded his head. They were definitely telling the truth. "So Shikamaru? What is your cover story?" He asked the man.

"I am guessing you're already in a henge of some sort?" He prompted and the man nodded his head.

"My name is Nyugan Takato. I'm an ANBU who was sent to Kusa for a top secret mission for five years is all I've got. My head is still spinning from the trip here. Do you have any water Sandaime? Oh and the date would be nice too." Hiruzen nodded and got him a drink of water before telling him the date. Shikamaru seemed to consider it before nodding.

"All right. So it is the month after we got into our genin teams." He nodded his head and Hiruzen could see the intelligence behind those eyes.

Perhaps you need to make the time longer? I mean, most of the jounin would recognise you if it were merely five years ago." Hiruzen murmured. He was surprised when Shikamaru shook his head.

"If I was an ANBU, I could have my identity hidden at all times. After the job I quit being ANBU and have now decided to be just a jounin. Any more years and I would have left at too young of an age. Any shorter and it will not work at all. It isn't the best cover story but it is better than just telling everyone where I actually came from. I even have been to Kusa so no problem if people ask me about it." He said with a shrug.

"You obviously have your own jounin vest but you need other supplies. I'll loan you some money and you can pay it back later if you wish." Hiruzen murmured thoughtfully and Shikamaru nodded. He stood and bowed, clutching the check in his hand.

"Thank you Sandaime-sama." He said with a small bow.

Hiruzen nodded back. "Takato. Make sure to find yourself a house." He said as the future jounin left.

O.o

Takato handed the check to the woman at the counter. Her eyes widened slightly before handing him the amount. It was a lot of money and Takato knew it. Nevertheless he was going to get himself a house and food as well. He ended up with a house next to the favourite barbeque restaurant and grinned lazily.

"Less way to walk now." He said with a chuckle and then slipped inside with his groceries he'd just bought.

He dumped them and looked at the room sadly. It felt so…_empty_. It was an empty room but that wasn't the point. Takato missed his Hokage already. _He'd always lighten up the mood or have some random idea, _He mused. _It's a wonder I ever kept up with him_. Takato really couldn't be bothered dealing with cooking at the moment so after putting the groceries away he wandered downstairs to the barbeque restaurant.

He wondered downstairs and almost bumped into someone but quickly evaded contact. He looked up to see a face that made him freeze in his tracks.

Asuma.

Asuma frowned as he scrutinised Takato and Takato had to control his facial expression as he stared into Asuma's eyes. "Sorry about almost bumping into you there." Asuma said gruffly.

Takato shrugged lazily, though there was a bit of stiffness behind it. "No problem. I'm guessing these are you genin team? The Sandaime told me that there was a new batch this year that were worthy." He said.

He saw Shikamaru give him a lazy look with calculated eyes beneath before shrugging. Chouji (Takato felt his chest tighten as he had to remind himself nothing had happened yet to Chouji) munched on a bag of chips while Ino stared at him impassively.

He had to look away from her gaze. It was too much seeing her strong eyes after the dreaded night. _'Shika, stop being a lazy ass and protect Konoha. Make us proud.'_

Takato had to pull himself out of his reverie as Asuma coughed. "I've never seen you around before. Are you new?"

Takato knew Asuma had become suspicious of him and shook his head. "No, well, yes. New to a normal jounin. I was an ANBU." He said dismissively.

He gazed up at the clouds. Asuma was alive. It was hard for the time traveller to get his head around. He looked down and then smiled a friendly smile to the genin.

"Well, since you're new-ish, Asuma-sensei can treat us all to a welcoming snack." Chouji said thoughtfully. Takato couldn't help but give a small smirk to the boy and shook his head.

"No, no. There's no need." He said with a small sad chuckle. He could feel Shikamaru's piercing gaze beneath the laziness and smiled down at the boy. He frowned slightly as he looked at how skinny the boy was. "You need to eat." He said with pursed lips.

Shikamaru shrugged and muttered, "Troublesome."

Takato's face broke into a smirk. "Maa, I'm taking up your time. Nice to meet you…?" He looked at them with fake inquiry.

"Asuma. That's Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino." Takato smiled.

"Well then. I have some advice. Shikamaru, Ino, take Chouji's lead and eat more. No such thing as too much food." He said and yawned. "But _making _the food is so _troublesome_." As soon as the word slipped out he noticed the sharp look sent at him by Shikamaru and Asuma.

Woops, shouldn't say that around here. He waved goodbye and ordered his food. He thanked the owner and left quickly, aware of the two pairs of eyes following him.

O.o

Takato sighed and slumped back against the wall of his house. As much as it was nice to see his team happy and whole again, it was giving him a headache. His mind screamed _wrong _at the scene that played out in front of him.

They were so happy, carefree. Shikamaru had never bothered to train and Takato was going to change that this time round. He _would _be strong enough to save Asuma, Ino and Chouji. He slowly chewed on his food as he thought. He should probably train all the teams.

He wouldn't get a team himself of course; otherwise he'd never be able to change events without worrying about them. So Takato decided. He would go talk the jounin of all the genin teams and get them to train extra hard. Particularly his team and Team 7. No doubt the Rokudaime would want that. He closed his eyes and thought over how he was going to deal with all this.

O.o

Takato yawned and slouched out of his house casually. Hands stuffed in his pockets, he wandered through the town thinking of how he was going to stop the fall of Konoha. He decided it would probably start with the chuunin exams which were a couple of months away so he had time to get himself prepared as well as the others.

He would stop Sasuke from getting the cursed seal, kill Orochimaru with the help of the Sandaime if he could. He doubted he alone could take out Orochimaru. He was no Uchiha or an amazingly talented Naruto. He sighed and looked up at the clouds. This was going to be hard. And very troublesome. He put his head down and continued to walk.

O.o

Takato wandered around the town in a seemingly aimless way but what he really was doing was going to all the training grounds. Finally he found his younger self, Chouji, Ino and Asuma seeming to half practice.

They weren't very motivated. Takato smiled sadly before, in a lazy way, walking up to Shikamaru and tapping him on the shoulder. His younger self jumped and whipped his head around.

"Wha- oh it's you." He said and slumped down slightly. Takato could see the questions blazing in his eyes. Takato tugged on a lock of his blonde hair.

"Heh. Why aren't you training?"

"Too troublesome." Shikamaru muttered. Takato grinned slightly.

"If I beat you in a game of Shogi will you train until you are at lack of chakra?" He asked with a lazy tone.

Shikamaru shot him a look. "How'd you know I like Shogi?"

"I didn't. _I _like Shogi though." Takato said with a small smirk. His younger self seemed to think about before nodding. Then Takato pulled out a sealing scroll and revealed a shogi set and the game began.

O.o

Shikamaru couldn't believe it. He'd been beaten at shogi by someone whom wasn't related to him.

Beaten in _shogi_.

Takato's _ryu_ piece and his _ryuma _had captured him nicely.

No, he had been caught. He looked up to see the smirking eyes of Takato and his own eyes narrowed.

"You knew I'd lose." Takato leaned back lazily.

"What would the point be of me _bothering _to play shogi with some lazy brat like you? Much too _troublesome_." The strange new jounin said with a dismissive wave and yawn. Shikamaru frowned.

There was something familiar about this guy. His blonde hair that fell around his face at shoulder length was nothing Shikamaru had never seen before. In fact, this guy just simply looked like any other guy.

But the newly promoted genin couldn't shake off the feeling he _knew _the guy. Ah well. Much too troublesome to look into for a genin like him. The man pointed to a nearby tree.

"Climb up it. No hands. Chakra only. Go." Shikamaru glared at him before growling and shoving himself to his feet.

"Fine." He muttered and stalked off to the tree in annoyance, feeling three pairs of surprised eyes and one pair of amused eyes.

O.o

Asuma sat down next to the jounin that he'd almost bumped into yesterday. "So who're you?"

He shrugged. "Just another jounin. Had been on ANBU for a long time, remembering faces but not names. As was the case before Asuma-san." He said with a soft tone.

Asuma pursed his lips. "So you got Shikamaru to practice? His father said that would be a miracle and I have to agree." Asuma mused as he smoked his pipe.

Takato gazed at him for a moment before looking away over at Asuma's new genin. Asuma watched as Takato took a deep breath and smiled at Chouji and Ino.

"Hey you two. Why don't you follow Shikamaru's lead and train? Training will be good for you, you know." He said with a strange look in his eyes.

Asuma quirked an eyebrow before nodding. "Of course. You heard my fellow jounin, get training." The chubby boy and the blonde girl made a slight groan of protest before following his orders. Asuma turned back to the jounin and smiled. The man bowed slightly before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. "Hey sensei?" Ino panted from her tree. "Yeah?" He asked thoughtfully. "What was his name?" Asuma blinked.

O.o

Takato hid himself in the tree with his chakra hidden. The Rokudaime had perfected this technique when he was younger to avoid the wrath of Tsunade. Not like he used it for that reason anymore. Nevertheless, now Takato could watch this unfold in peace without scrutinizing eyes, so that helped.

His younger self was being lazy and not bothering to really try. Typical. Takato knew he was capable of it.

Ino and Chouji weren't able to climb the tree but for different reasons. Chouji was putting not enough chakra into it while Ino was putting too much. This was playing out just like last time.

Asuma gave them comments on the odd occasion and small encouragement when he could be bothered. Takato leaned back against the tree and flipped open a book. Not one of those perverted books written by Naruto's godfather; Kami knows Temari would kill him.

No he was reading his bingo book that Sandaime had given him. He sighed silently before finishing it. He knew them all already anyway. So instead Takato began to call water from the air and manipulate it. It had been hard gruelling training under Rokudaime. No one could manipulate the elements like him but his technique for training was one Takato never wished to repeat.

But then, Naruto's godfather had thrown him off a cliff to learn a technique so it did kind of make sense. He made the water into a hoop before letting it swim in the air like an eel before sending it into his awaiting mouth. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, he looked over at how Team 10 was doing.

He could see the look on Shikamaru's face and knew he needed to do something. He ran a hand through his blonde hair before snatching a kunai and a piece of parchment out of his pouch.

O.o

Shikamaru was getting bored fast. Why should he have to do this anyway? That stranger wasn't here anymore, he should just stop. Just as he dropped to the bottom and turned around a kunai appeared at his feet. Shikamaru jumped back in surprise.

"What the hell!?" He yelled. Ino and Chouji fell off their trees and Asuma stared at him.

"Get away from it Shikamaru; it might be an explosion tag." Asuma ordered. Shikamaru didn't listen as he spotted what was on the parchment. Against his teammates protest he picked it up and read it.

_Quit and no more shogi games for you._

_P.S _

_Stop slacking. You aren't even trying. If you climb up the tree in the next minute I'll play a shogi game with you tomorrow._

Shikamaru glanced around the trees with curiousity. He was still here then? Shikamaru weighed his options. He could either stop now and never see the man again (not an option, he had to play shogi with him again) or keep on practicing with _effort. _That would be troublesome.

But then if he wanted to play tomorrow he would have to climb the tree in the next ten seconds. So obviously the answer was – Shikamaru climbed up the tree and sat on the top branch. He panted slightly and then turned as a thunk was heard in the wood next to him. He unlodged the kunai and read the note.

_Shogi tomorrow. I'll meet you at the barbeque restaurant. Bring my kunai. _

Shikamaru grinned as he read that and then looked down to see Asuma and Ino staring with open mouths. Chouji was eating his chips slowly with contemplating eyes. Shikamaru slumped after rolling his eyes.

O.o

Asuma walked up the tree to Shikamaru and sat next to him.

"Who was trying to attack you?" He asked with a frown.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "He didn't try to attack me he was just _motivating _me. I think. Well it sounds like it anyway." He muttered and held up one of the tags that had been attached to the kunai.

"Wow 'quit and no more shogi games for you' is obviously a big threat." Asuma said with a bemused expression.

Shikamaru gave him a deadpanned stare. "Shut up sensei."

O.o

"Troublesome." Takato groaned as he sunk into his chair at the barbeque restaurant. Today, after leaving the training field, he'd been sure someone was following him. In fact, it was closer to stalking actually.

And Takato was sure he knew who it was. He saw three familiar faces poking out from behind a bush and Takato grinned slightly. "Team 10 right? Come out." He said.

The three genin blinked and came out with a bit of shame. "Who are you?" Ino demanded. "Yeesh. Gimme a break blondie." He muttered.

"You're blonde too." Shikamaru pointed out. Takato tugged on one of his locks.

"Yeah so what? Get lost." He said with annoyance.

_Kami, I hope this works, _Takato prayed.

"We want you to train us!" Ino blurted out. Then she blushed slightly as Takato raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what Asuma-san is for Shikamaru-kun, Chouji-kun and Ino-chan?" He asked with slight hesitance.

"Well it's not like we will be giving up on him or anything just getting extra training." Shikamaru pointed out.

Takato's mouth twitched. _Hmm this is the perfect way for me to get into training with them, _He sighed and held his hands up in front of him in surrender.

"So perfect in planning oh Nara-sama." He said dramatically in a very un-Shikamaru-like way.

Three pairs of eyes instantly narrowed. Takato became serious. "Fine, I'll train you brats for one day a week. What day would you like?" He asked leaning back.

"Tuesday." The three of them answered at once. Takato's eyes narrowed.

"You only chose that because it's tomorrow." He growled. In answer flashed three smug grins.

He sighed. "Fine. Okay well tell your sensei and meet me here tomorrow morning at ten." He instructed. The three nodded and left the barbeque restaurant before realising they didn't have his name. They turned around and saw he was gone.

O.o


	3. Ch2

Takato sighed deeply before rolling out of bed. He quickly changed into his gear and glanced in the mirror to see if the seal was still working before heading out the door to the barbeque restaurant.

When he arrived he saw three genin already waiting for him. That was unusual. Shikamaru sat with his hands in the non-seal of thinking like he always did when contemplating something.

Chouji was munching on a bag of chips furiously while Ino sat impatiently snapping at the other two.

"I didn't believe I set a time for us to meet so I'm surprised you came so early." He mused from behind them, making them jump and scowl at him. Shikamaru handed him his kunai and Takato nodded his thanks.

"All right. Now first off, I'll play shogi with Shikamaru. Second, we'll work on your taijutsu. You're all severely lacking in chakra and so we need to build up your stamina for you to gain more. Thirdly, you will work on teamwork. But before all of that, I am going to have breakfast." Takato declared lazily and began to eat.

The three stared at him intently. Takato put the food down with a roll of his eyes. "What?" He said tiredly.

"We want you to train us!" Ino declared. Takato sighed heavily.

"So you've told me. However, a good shinobi will have a healthy diet. So this is my first lesson; Ino, eat more. I don't care if it's for some boy that you're dieting but that diet of yours will kill you if you carry on like that." He said sternly as Ino opened her mouth to protest.

"Shikamaru. Eat more and laze around less. At the rate you're going, you teammates will be dead because you didn't train hard enough." Takato said with hardened eyes. _Much like I was, _Takato thought grimly.

"And Chouji, make sure you match your taijutsu with your eating habits. You can eat as much as you want, as long as you work it into muscle. Do that and you will become a very powerful shinobi." Takato said with a strong voice. _It's true, he was a strong shinobi. It was me who wasn't strong enough to help him… _

Chouji nodded his head. Takato pulled out a familiar scroll and the shogi board appeared. "Let's play."

O.o

They panted heavily as Takato sat calmly facing them with a half lidded expression they found oddly familiar. "Your taijutsu needs serious improvement on. So I will give you these to work on." Takato said and dropped down the weights into a pile. They grabbed four each and sat as he strapped the weights onto them. They were extremely heavy after their training.

"Now, these will get heavier every week. You will wear them everywhere, non-stop, unless bathing. Do _not _take them off, ever, unless I instruct you to do so. Understand?" He asked.

The three grumbled but nodded their heads resentfully. "Everyday wake up early so you can do a running lap _around _Konoha. This way you can be awake and have a shower if you make it home fast enough." Takato instructed. This wasn't going to end up like last time. These kids were going to be ready for it when the time comes.

They would be a team. "Right! Team building exercise." Takato declared. He watched their expressions become mortified as he explained what they would be doing. But he gave them no chance to protest and handed them a blind fold each. "So you will let your partner lead you through this obstacle course." He explained.

The mission was quite simple. They had to be lead through a series of traps and other things to get a key. Once they'd completed that, they would go through the obstacle course once again (this time a different person) to find a box. Then once again go through and find a key, then a box, then a key, then another box. They would only be allowed to bring one item back at a time.

Once they had brought all six items they needed to collect, well, they'd see what would happen later. Hopefully they'd have better trust then now. And so they began with Ino going first into the course with Chouji leading her. There were plenty of close calls and Takato watched closely. They were doing this extremely well. A bit too easily to his liking. They had evaded all the traps he'd set exceptionally. So Takato decided to have a little play on this next round.

O.o

Chouji being lead by Shikamaru. "Go forward Chouji five steps." He said lazily.

Chouji nodded his head until he heard Shikamaru's voice. "No wait! Go _left _five steps." The voice corrected itself.

Chouji hesitated mid-step before moving to the side. Shikamaru stood as he saw this.

"Chouji go right five steps and forward five steps." He said with a raised eyebrow. Why didn't Chouji listen?

"Go _backwards_ five steps before jumping to the right; watch out, it's a big drop." The other Shikamaru's voice said.

Chouji was confused. "Shikamaru, why are you telling me to do one thing and then do another?" He asked his best friend.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "It's a genjutsu! No wonder it seemed to easy the first round. Chouji use _Kai_!" He told his friend.

Chouji looked confused, for a very good reason too.

"Come on Shikamaru! Stop teasing him! I know you don't like him and think he's a waste of space but come on. I really want to see what's in that box, we can dump the fatty somewhere else anyway…" Came a voice that sounded exactly like Ino's.

"Fine but I'll tell him it's a genjutsu. I bet you that the fatty will believe me…" Came Shikamaru's voice smugly.

Then he heard Shikamaru's voice again and it sounded panicked. "It's a genjutsu! No wonder it seemed to easy the first round. Chouji use _Kai_!" Chouji felt himself shaking. He couldn't _believe _that the two people he had trusted the most, had called him _that_.

He could hear those two voices behind him, betraying him… his friends calling him _that _behind his back. But then he remembered something that Shikamaru had told him long ago…

"_Fat? You're not fat. Big-boned, definitely. I'd never say you were fat Chouji." _Chouji paused as he remembered this. If Shikamaru had called him 'fat' now and then was claiming it was a genjutsu, then perhaps it _was _a genjutsu?

It had been going far too easy after all. So bringing his hands together in a familiar hand seal he yelled, _"Kai!" _He felt his ears unblock slightly and his head seemed to get clearer. There were no more mutterings in the background. He slumped slightly. "Shikamaru! Which way do I go?"

"To the right five steps and then forward five steps Chouji." Shikamaru ordered. Chouji thought about what had been said before the genjutsu and nodded his head before following the orders.

His feet kicked something metal and he held a box in his hands triumphantly. Shikamaru directed him slowly out of the maze and knew that it was his turn now but first he wanted to ask Chouji what the genjutsu had said. "Well first it was just telling me to go in different directions than you were telling me to go in." Chouji explained to Shikamaru and Ino.

"But then, it decided to start making me not try and trust you guys." He said slowly.

"How'd it do that?" Ino asked curiously.

"Insulted me. It used you guys – well your voices – and made it sound like you were going to get the box and then just dump me off somewhere like trash." Chouji said and his fist tightened.

"I could still hear you guys but the genjutsu was good. When you said it was a genjutsu, just before that the Shikamaru voice said I would definitely fall for thinking it was a genjutsu." He explained with a glare at the course.

"So it was trying to play with your mind and keep you from dispelling it that way…" Shikamaru murmured. "But then why did you change your mind about it being a genjutsu or not?" Shikamaru asked his friend.

Chouji smiled happily. "Because of what you said in the Academy before we became genin. You said you'd never say I was fat." He exclaimed proudly. Shikamaru smiled at his friend before looking around them. "Okay Ino, here's what we're gonna do…"

Shikamaru nodded to Ino. "Ready." She said and her body slumped. One of the rules were that the person who was _blindfolded_ could not take the blindfold off. The leader couldn't step into the course to take the blindfold off them.

However, because Ino was taking the blindfold off and she hadn't stepped into the course, she could now remove the blindfold and walk through Shikamaru's body. This was so much looking underneath the underneath that it would make Kakashi proud.

Ino began wandering around looking for the key. She avoided traps and continued walking. After over five minutes she felt like something was wrong. She was _sure _she'd seen that blue tire before.

She continued on anyway, noting that she was almost out of chakra now. After another five minutes she turned round the corner. There it was. The blue tire. Realising what it was her eyes widened. But her chakra was almost at fulltime low so she quickly put the blindfold back up and released her jutsu.

She made it back into her body and glared at the tree where she had the suspicion her day sensei sat. He'd known she was going to do that and had a genjutsu ready to confuse her. This man was good.

O.o

Takato (who was sitting inside Ino's shadow to tell his true location) smirked and rolled his eyes. Ino had gotten too confident and so hadn't kept an eye out for anything odd until it was too late.

He'd even made it _extremely _obvious by making her see the same thing over and over again. Finally she'd left and he'd released the genjutsu.

He wasn't very good at genjutsu but these were only very basic. Slightly altering the way things look, making noises that aren't actually there, they were extremely simple to make. He looked back up as Shikamaru came back with his key. So now it was Ino's turn leading Chouji to find the next box.

He let them wind Chouji through a path carefully and extremely cautiously. Deciding this was taking too long and they needed to understand that being too slow could cost lives, he began releasing traps around Chouji.

He dodged most of the rain of kunai, only getting sliced a few little cuts letting blood dribble down his right cheek and arms. Ino realised that they'd been spending much too long deciding where to go. Wisely however, she remembered not to rush into things like Naruto would do.

Instead she led her team mate through with a great show of expertise. When Chouji returned with the next box they seemed to be even more alert. Now Takato watched as Shikamaru went and got blindfolded while Chouji sat down to lead him through his voiced commands.

They worked together perfectly and too quick for any of Takato's traps to catch them standing still too long yet cautious enough not to charge right into them by accident. Shikamaru returned with the key under his arm. Now they had a collection of two boxes and three keys.

Takato wondered if they would pick up on the hidden meaning for this test. They were ninja. They never had a straight meaning for anything. Unless they were the Rokudaime that is. Man was that guy blunt and straight to the point. Takato shook his head and his chest tightened. The Rokudaime might be gone in that timeline but not in this one he wasn't.

O.o

Shikamaru directed Ino to the box. She cautiously picked it up and made her way back to the end of the course. However as soon as she walked out the box disappeared from her hands.

"What!?" She exclaimed in surprise. Shikamaru frowned but directed her to get the box again. Once again the same thing happened.

"Try using _Kai_?" Shikamaru suggested/asked. Ino made her way back and performed the release to no response.

"Something else Shikamaru." Ino said with a bit of frustration in her voice. They were all hungry, they hadn't had any lunch yet. Ino picked up the box and it rattled slightly.

"Hey Shikamaru, it has something in it." Ino called. Shikamaru's eyes widened as he remembered the rules for this test.

"The person who was _blindfolded_ cannot take the blindfold off. The leader can't step into the course to take the blindfold off them. You may only take one item out of the maze at a time. There are six items we need to retrieve from the course." He murmured under his breath.

_You may only take one item out of the maze at a time. There are six items we need to retrieve from the course. _Shikamaru sat up right.

He led Ino back through the obstacles and then placed a key in her hand. Then he led her back through the course and then directed her to open it. She failed and so he asked her to return once again. This time he decided to examine the keys and the boxes. He found one that didn't seem to look like it fit with the others and so gave that to Ino.

She went back with his directions and stuck the key in the lock. It opened and reaching her hand inside she grabbed the last item. She picked it up and walked back out happily.

Then she took off the blindfold and they waited for the day sensei to come. When he didn't come Ino started to get impatient. "Where the hell is he!?" She yelled in annoyance. Chouji was staring at the items they had gotten.

"Guys… we only have five items here." He reminded them with a groan. Shikamaru cursed loudly and Ino glared at the obstacle course in annoyance. Shikamaru threw Ino the blindfold. Ino began to make her way through the maze with little trouble (besides walking straight into a trap because she was too pissed at their day sensei) and finally got the key.

She headed back and threw the key in the pile. Instantly Takato appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Congratulations." He said with a smirk. "But from now you guys need to remember what you have learnt today and keep it in mind. You all did very well; your teamwork is strong. However because you did not share your chips Chouji with the others who did not have lunch you will do ten star jumps for every chip you eat until next Tuesday."

The day sensei said with a smirk. He stared at them proudly before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The three stared at the place he'd disappeared tiredly. "Did anyone pick up his name the past seven hours we spent with him?" Ino asked. T

he other two looked at her jadedly. "Who cares? He made good points; we follow them and wait for next Tuesday. Man is this going to be troublesome." Shikamaru groaned and lay back. Chouji was already on his feet again eating chips while doing ten star jumps for every chip he ate.

O.o

Takato leaned back against the door heavily. "Man, are those kids troublesome. Especially me." He said and then let his head loll to the side. His apartment wasn't the nicest of all places but it was better than Naruto's.

That didn't say much since practically _anything _with a roof was better than Naruto's apartment. Since he was in privacy, he opened up the scrolls to glance over the seals the Rokudaime had given him and the ones head brought. Sealing scrolls, privacy seals, exploding seals, the Stag summoning contract(his own), toad summoning, snake summoning, slug summoning, hawk summoning, dog summoning, ox summoning, … as much as the future Hokage could give him.

Those were only some of the contracts Rokuadaime had given him. Takato had no talent in sealing himself, preferring to use his shadow jutsu and intellect to deal with problems. Of course, there were some seals, namely the ones the Rokudaime himself had created, that had to be drawn directly onto a surface and not transferred, no exceptions. Because of this the Rokudaime's arms was covered with seals that allowed different things.

Each of his subordinates had the disguising seal that was similar to a solid henge on them located on the left hip bone, as well as the 'home' seal on their left wrist. The home seal was a tracking seal that allowed Naruto to know your exact position through his own seal, therefore using this to come to you. It only took him a few seconds once he had learnt his father's famous jutsu.

Another one of the many seals that Naruto had placed on him was the weight seal. It was located on the back, but invisible, and it was a lot like the weights Lee and Gai used to wear (or still do now in the past) except for the fact that there was no weight limit for them and instead of focusing on one part of the body to build up muscle, it focused on all of it. Takato had one more seal on his forehead that he'd asked Naruto to place on him, more like pleaded.

It gave full power to Naruto about his actions and he could not disobey Naruto under any circumstances. It was invisible to all but Naruto and those had had one themselves. The binding seal. It was deadly for the will to the person who was caught in it. However, the process to put it on was nothing short of painful for both the receiver and Naruto.

Once on, full control was in Naruto's. The bound was slave to Naruto's will. If one were to ask Takato why he would want a seal placed on him, he would answer with one simple question. _Would you want your enemy to take control of your body? _Because if Madara could control the great Kyuubi, Takato had no chance. Sighing, he closed his eyes and fell asleep on the floor, not bothering to get up into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

O.o

"You can do a mission Takato." Hiruzen decided as he spoke to the time traveller. Takato nodded his head. He knew this would come, it wasn't like it never would anyway. Looking at the B rank mission given to him (_Only a B rank?_) he sighed. Kill this person, kill that person. It wasn't like Takato wasn't used to it, merely he didn't see the point half of the time. Ah well. He got paid. He nodded his head and bowed before jumping out the window and heading for the main gates out of Konoha.

O.o

Shikamaru had dragged himself back home after their temporary sensei had disappeared.

Now, the next morning, he had woken up early like the day jounin had instructed, eaten breakfast and was now running a lap around the village. It would have been hard enough without the weights on but with the weights it was _torture_. Shikamaru ended up back at home four hours later and collapsed onto his porch outside in exhaustion.

His mother had come running out and he had hungrily devoured the food placed in front of him much to his mother's surprise. His mother had in turn informed her husband who came out to see not only was his son up a lot earlier than his usual time but also see that he was eating ravenously.

"Son, what's with the sudden change?" He asked with a frown. It wasn't like it was a bad sign but Shikaku wondered what would make his son act so different. Shikamaru paused between bites to look up at his father.

"We had a sensei yesterday and he said to me 'eat more and laze less' because he said at the amount of training I was doing, all my teammates would be killed." He said and took another bite. His eyes hardened.

"The thing was, when he said it, it wasn't like he was saying _might_ more like they _would_ be killed. I could see it in his eyes; he'd seen it happen before." Shikamaru said and shivered. Shikaku's lips pursed as he watched his son's reaction. "What was the name of this jounin?"

O.o

Ino wrapped the towel around herself tiredly. She'd just taken a cold shower after a very sweaty and tiring run around Konoha. To tell you the truth, she was sorely disappointed in herself. Not only was she more unfit than she'd originally thought, her appearance had sorely disappointed her. It was hard to move around in her chosen outfit and her hair flung widely as she ran which only added to her weight as she had ran. She was going to change that.

She decided after careful deliberation that Sasuke would like an independent, strong and beautiful kunoichi more than a weak, dependent, 'pretty' kunoichi like Sakura. Forehead was the perfect example of someone like that. Ino was going to be better.

She dressed herself in a tight-fitting but easy-to-move-in outfit. It was still coloured purple of course.

She strapped on the weights much like her one day sensei had done and stood up with a firm expression on her face. Walking out she bumped into her dad. "Oh sorry Dad! If you need me, I'll be at the hair dressers." She exclaimed and disappeared from his sight.

"What's Ino doing up so early?" Inoichi's wife asked behind her groceries.

"Something about going to get a hair cut I believe." Inoichi said with confusion. One thing he could never understand was the brain of a teenage girl. No matter how many times you go into their brains it didn't help.

They must speak in some sort of code or something. He watched as his wife refilled the cupboards from them being emptied yesterday by none other than Ino.

When he'd asked she'd replied with simply, "Day jounin said to eat more. If I don't I will die from malnutrition and then I won't be much help to Sasuke." All Inoichi had on his mind now was who was this 'day jounin'?

O.o

Chouza had come to see a peculiar sight when he'd woken up in the morning. His son was doing ten star jumps for every chip he ate.

"Son, what are you doing?" Chouza asked curiously. Chouji finished and was panting slightly.

"Well you see, after I ran around Konoha –"

"You ran _around __**Konoha**_?" Chouza repeated in disbelief. Chouji nodded his head and continued.

"After I ran around Konoha I got hungry again. But for me to eat a single chip I have to do ten star jumps." He explained and then once again did ten star jumps once another chip was eaten.

"Why would Asuma tell you to do that?" Chouza said curiously.

Chouji shook his head. "It wasn't Asuma-sensei who told me it was our day sensei." Chouji explained.

"Your day sensei?" Chouza repeated in confusion. Chouji nodded. "Every Tuesday he will train us he said, unless he's got a mission or we do. Therefore he is 'day sensei' as he is our sensei for one day." Chouji finished.

"Why not just call him by his name?" Chouza asked.

O.o

Asuma was waiting for his team to show up at their training grounds. Suddenly he felt three chakra points coming his way.

_Finally, _he thought and opened his mouth to speak when he realised it was none other than the famous Ino-Shika-Cho team. Raising an eyebrow he waved.

"Inoichi, Shikaku, Chouza, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?" Asuma asked interestedly. He already had a hunch though…

"Why would you leave my daughter with some stranger!? You don't even know if he is truly a jounin!" Inoichi fired off. Asuma raised an eyebrow while the other two were looking at him differently.

Shikaku was thoughtful. "Did anyone manage to catch his name?" He asked everyone else.

Asuma scowled. "I went and asked the Hokage about that but he wouldn't tell me. All he told me was that it would be a good idea to take this training offer." He said grumpily.

His cigarette hung from his mouth and its smoky wisps swirled around Asuma. Chouza was solemn. "He didn't do anything wrong, in fact he managed to convince Chouji to get up early in the morning and run around Konoha." Asuma's eyebrows raised.

"Shikamaru too. But he was also eating which I can tell you he hardly ever does." Shikaku added.

Inoichi sighed. "You should have seen Ino. Wearing proper ninja gear and running off to get her hair cut because it was too long to do anything but get in the way." He said with a sigh.

Asuma had forgotten about the cigar in his hand. "I wonder what he said to them to make them change their minds…"

O.o

The man was sleeping in his bed peacefully. Takato snuck up stealthily and with one flick of the wrist, murdered the man. Turning around, he ran straight into some henchmen. _Troublesome, _Takato thought exasperatedly. They attacked as a unit, fast but not fast enough to catch Takato.

No he wasn't fast, but unlike them, he'd been in a war. Catching them with the shadow jutsu he made them strangle themselves using one of his new jutsu. They fell to the floor with a thud. Takato cursed his luck as he heard a shout escape from one of them and a few seconds later an alarm started. Many guards began running around to find the intruder and Takato slipped off unseen in the shadows.

O.o

"Hardly worth a B rank." Takato muttered as he ran back on the way to Konoha. Probably the only reason it had been a B rank was because of the fact it was an assassination mission.

But most of the time those were easy. "Much too troublesome." He sighed as he carried on through the trees. Though the fact that any genin or chuunin who did that would most probably botch the mission helped it become a B rank as well. It was where Takato would put it anyhow.

"I'm such a hypocrite – sort of." Takato mumbled. It was getting close to sunrise now and so would begin the day of Thursday. He sighed heavily. He'd been travelling for hours now; the trip itself was more energy consuming than the mission.

He sighed heavily once again but finally let a small smile slip as Konoha came in sight. Kotetsu and Izumo, the two chuunin guards, sat waiting there. Kotetsu looked up as Takato slowed and walked up to the gate.

"Who're you? Never seen you before." Kotetsu said curiously. Takato shrugged.

"I doubt you'd recognise me. Just coming back from a mission." He said and tapped his Konoha forehead protector. He had moved it to hang loosely around his neck instead of around his arm like he had when he was younger since it made him look different and therefore, people were even less likely to recognise it as him.

Izumo took in his appearance before nodding his head slowly. "I'm sure I saw him yesterday… alright, let him in."

They let him through and he nodded his thanks. Making his way back up to the Hokage tower he entered and bowed to the Sandaime. "I completed the mission Sandaime." He said during his bow.

"Excellent. Well then, have a good day Nyugan Takato." He said with a smile. Takato nodded and took the pay off the desk and stuffed it in his pocket. He wondered what he should buy to make his apartment more… colourful. Perhaps a pineapple. One of the decoration ones. That would be okay. And a fan.

O.o

Takato wandered round the area aimlessly. He wasn't really looking for anyone, as he was wondering aimlessly, but he couldn't shake the feeling something familiar had just appeared. He ran a hand through his blonde hair before sighing and before almost walking into someone.

He cursed; he was doing that a lot lately. He needed to stop being distracted. He looked at the person to apologise and saw beautiful bright red eyes staring back at him.

He blinked twice before he recognised who he'd almost bumped into. "Sorry." Kurenai apologised. Takato waved his hand.

"It's fine. My fault. I should've watched where I was going." He explained with a small smile. "Though we didn't actually walk into each other." Takato said with a small smirk.

Kurenai smiled slightly before nodding and walked backwards. "Well Goodbye then." She said and turned around and began walking forward again. Takato watched her go.

_Well, that was scary. I thought I was looking into Takahime's eyes for a moment, _Takato mused. Kurenai and Asuma's daughter had been a pupil of Takato's past life. The thought pained him and he shook his head clear of the thoughts. A soft sigh escaped his lips and he began to walk back up to his room to eat at the barbeque restaurant.

O.o


End file.
